Western Dakota Technical College. (Courtesy of WDTC)
A new program director from North Carolina and a series of protocol changes have put Western Dakota Technical College back in the good graces of the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission .
Commissioners unanimously voted to reinstate the Rapid City school’s articulation agreement during a virtual meeting Wednesday after hearing from that new program director, Jonni Joyce, and from the school’s president, Ann Bolman.
Board moves to strip Western Dakota Tech of fast-track status for law enforcement program
The articulation agreement represents a fast track to a South Dakota law enforcement career for students in the school’s two-year criminal justice program. Students can take reciprocity tests and get certified to work a policing job in South Dakota through the program, which allows them to skip the 13-week basic law enforcement academy course in Pierre.
Western Dakota Tech rejoins Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls and Lake Area Technical College in Watertown as one of three schools in the state with fast-track articulation agreements.
“We need Western Dakota and we appreciate the steps that they’ve taken,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley, who is a member of the commission. “They’ve taken this very seriously, and I think these improvements are going to help the officers in the future.”
Commissioners voted to revoke the school’s articulation agreement in January after two years of back-and-forth between the program’s administrators and law enforcement training officials.
There were four problems behind the vote:
- Inaccurate or false reports sent to the state by program administrators.
- Students taking the law enforcement certification test before their final semester.
- Failure to report required student retention information.
- Failure to produce instructor credential records.
Bolman told commissioners on Wednesday that communication was the primary deficiency. The qualifications for adjunct instructors weren’t maintained by the school’s human resources department, for example.
That’s no longer true, she said. The program’s student retention reports will be shared with the program director and the school’s vice president now, Bolman said, and student grades must be logged for the program director within 48 hours of a test or assignment.
“Our communication process was lacking, and I feel like it has been significantly improved,” Bolman said.
Joyce came to Western Dakota Tech this year after teaching law enforcement at two schools in North Carolina. She told commissioners her focus will be on accountability, using the state’s basic law enforcement certification curriculum as a guide and increasing the amount of time students spend with “high-liability training areas” like emergency vehicle operations and firearms.
“That is going to improve our student success, and that will result in an increase in our pass rates in the reciprocity exam, and also put qualified people out into the workforce as professional law enforcement officers,” Joyce said.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Rapid City-based commission member Steve Allender told South Dakota Searchlight he was pleasantly surprised by the school’s aggressive action to address concerns. The school began to work with him and officials in Pierre quickly after January’s revocation, even including Allender, a former Rapid City mayor and police chief, in its interview for Joyce.
“I was a little cynical about the whole thing,” Allender said. “I thought the program had gone downhill and that it would be a long recovery, but this new director has really taken this bull by the horns.”
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